In the last twenty years, the automated fiber placement manufacturing process has undergone substantial growth, primarily due to improved design and manufacturing processes, as well as an increasing number of applications. The incorporation of fiber materials in sports equipment such as golf clubs, tennis rackets or snow skis has shown others how these materials might also be appropriate for automobile hoods and fenders, recreational marine vessels or, aircraft wings or bodies and aerospace applications.
Regardless of composition, carbon fibers or carbon fiber materials, in particular, hold certain common negative aspects that accompany the handling or manufacturing activities involving carbon fiber materials. The three most common areas of concern in the handling of carbon fibers are dust inhalation, skin irritation, and the effects of fibers on electrical equipment. Some carbon fiber is composed of many extremely light, thin strands, containing mainly carbon embedded in an epoxy resin. Alternatively, some carbon fiber may be composed of many extremely light, thin strands, containing mainly carbon without being embedded in an epoxy resin However, carbon fibers by their nature, are somewhat “flinty” and tend to give off small, free floating particulate “flakes,” while being incorporated into a manufactured product. These “flakes” are generally indiscernible to the naked eye; thus, they are commonly referred to as “dust”.
When parts are produced with an automated fiber placement machine, multiple tows of carbon, fiber glass, etc., must travel over somewhat torturous path from a refrigerated creel to the compression roller of a fiber placement head. It is known that during such an automated fiber placement process, minute pieces of fiber and resin may come loose from the tows and form a “dust” of particles which may possibly cause irritation to the skin of a machine operator and may possibly be potentially harmful if inhaled by that operator, or others, in substantial quantities. Also, non-resin embedded flakes or dust may accumulate on internal mechanism or elements of the automated carbon fiber placement machine and become electrostatically charged after a time. Such polarization has been determined significantly contributory to static electrical arcing within components that ruin the component or temporarily suspend the machine's operation.
In the utilization of an automated carbon fiber placement machine, an operator may come into direct physical contact with the pre-impregnated strands of carbon fiber material. More specifically, many manufacturing processes utilizing carbon fibers are accomplished through what is commonly known as “hand lay-up” process. This process involves the direct application of the carbon fiber material or “tows,” by an individual immediately adjacent to and directly manipulating or controlling the lay-up application of the carbon fiber tows onto a mold. The “dust” may also cause malfunction or operating problems with the fiber placement machine apparatus if it is allowed to accumulate around bearings or other moving parts. Generally, as a precautionary step, operators of such fiber placement apparatus may spend substantial amounts of non-productive or “down-time” cleaning various surfaces and components of the apparatus to offset the adverse effects of such dust accumulation.
Additionally, the dust particles may in some cases, have an electrostatic charge, which may cause the particles to be drawn into unsealed electric motors and/or control electronics. A number of manufacturers of carbon fiber material acknowledge that completed carbon fibers are good conductors of electricity. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for containing and removing the dust particles generated during the fiber placement process. Another negative aspect of carbon fiber manufacture is the possibility of skin irritation resulting from contact with carbon fiber dust.
Therefore, what is needed then is an improved methodology for the carbon fiber placement manufacturing process that removes or substantially reduces the presence of the carbon fiber dust during that process and thus, removes or substantially reduces the level of risk to those individuals in the immediate presence of the carbon material.